Bieszczady Ultramarathon! This, in a nutshell, can serve as a summary of my October. This was the event I’ve been preparing for this year. Despite some doubts, due to recent left calf strain, the result exceeded my expectations. Feel free to read the race report – it had a fantastic organization and very warm atmosphere, even though it was terribly cold that day.
After the marathon came the off season recovery time (about which I wrote here). And now I’m slowly getting back to regular training. At the end of the month I had the opportunity to participate in Akademia Biegowa Brooks (Brooks Running Academy), organized in Sklep Biegowy in Cracow. Very interesting experience – a short photo report in here.
MONTH IN NUMBERS
In October, I covered a distance of 189 km, of which unfortunately a lot on the bicycle. Calf injury required that I didn’t overburder my calf before the Bieszczady Ultramarathon. And after the race I went straight to Off Season Recovery, so October’s running volume isn’t too exciting.
Distance: 189 km / Time: 19:44:28 / Calories: 7 886 kcal
summary – October
EVENTS IN OCTOBER
The beginning of the month was a period of tapering (sharpening) before ultramarathon – smaller runnning volume, regeneration and my classic carboloading diet. About the marathon you can read in the race report, so Iwon’t repeat myself. I”ll only say that I am proud of setting new personal best almost 1 hour better, compared to the result on Chudy Wawrzyniec. I achieved the time 6:20:34 at a distance of 53 km – i.e. pace in the range of 8,3 min/km and placed me in ranking as 163rd/630 participants (86th/249 in the M30 category). Not bad for a second ultra, but I have the appetite for more next year.
Off Season Recovery was a hard time for me – two weeks without running ?! No way! Last year, after 2 weeks of off season recover I completely fell apart – I cought cold and some old injuries returned. 2 weeks break in running stretched to almost five weeks. Nightmare!
This year I made the opposite mistake – I decided to keep moving not to make muscles lazy, but still no running. There were no cold or any other infections, but after these two weeks, on my first run i felt a quadriceps in the right leg. And again, everything will probably lengthen slightly… Ehhh …
At the end of the month I visited Sklep Biegowy in Cracow (next to Kazimierz Shopping Centre) to take part in Akademia Biegowa Brooks. The event was conducted by Marek Jaroszewski, titled marathon runner and a specialist in his field. There was an opportunity to get valuable advice from experienced runner, and not just anybody! Additionally, participants had the opportunity to learn a lot about the philosophy of Brooks and get to know the whole cross-section of their shoe range. The greatest bonus was that we were able to try out selected models in practice, during training with Marek Jaroszewski. I recommend everyone to take part in such meetings – there’s always something to learn and you can meet other running enthusiasts.
WHAT NEXT?
After closing a running season and off season recovery, it’s time to slowly get back into training and building a cardiovascular base for the upcoming season. Therefore, the November seems to be very peaceful.
Soon I will post my running plan for the coming year – I’m curious about your opinions. Maybe you’ll notice races you plan to start in as well and we’ll meet on track?
Training shouldn’t be too hard for the time being. I’m coming back to normal volume, which is in my case 60-70 km per week. With time, I have to increase the volume to 80-90 km and build up the cardiovascular base – more mileage I need for a better preparation for next year’s ultra distances and more comfortable approach to beat my personal best in the street marathon.
